Why You Shouldn’t Wear Makeup on Monday

The Renfrew Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that researches and treats eating disorders, surveyed about 1,300 women ages 18 and older about makeup, and came up with these shocking results: About half said they feel insecure when they don't wear makeup, 16 percent said having a bare face makes them feel unattractive and 14 percent said they feel self-conscious without their lipstick, blush and mascara.

While there’s nothing wrong with dabbing on a little makeup to feel more beautiful (we all do it!), it’s more important to focus on how you feel on the inside, says Susan Kleinman, dance/movement therapist at the Renfrew Center of Florida.

“When it seems as if a person might solve a problem by wearing more makeup, that doesn’t help the person to really look beneath the surface,” she says. “If looking great is used to cover up not feeling great, then there might be something brewing inside.”

To promote greater self-love, Renfrew is encouraging women to bare their faces on Monday — which happens to be the start of National Eating Disorders Week. The initiative, dubbed “Barefaced & Beautiful, Without & Within,” encourages women not to use makeup as a mask.

But what about zits and scars and all the other pesky things makeup so wonderfully conceals? Wearing makeup isn’t the issue, Kleinman says, but how and why we wear it. “I think the problem is when makeup is used as a disguise rather than an enhancement of ourselves,” she explains.

The healthy way to quell insecurities? “Look beneath the surface to evaluate problems, and harness your natural beauty,” Kleinman says. “Sometimes we’re great the way we are, and we need to be able to recognize that,” she says.

To show your support and pledge not to wear makeup on Monday, visit the Renfrew Center Facebook page, or tweet to @RenfrewCenter.